There Will Be Points! Upcoming PdC Calendar Events
by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 3, 2011 7:59 PM EST
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PrintOh, you can complain that the Podium Cafe doesn't start its competition schedule early enough, but once we do, it's full throttle. After six races over the weekend and Le Samyn yesterday and the Giro del Friuli today, we embark next on another phase of the early season bonanza: Spanish stage races! Let's run down the upcoming action...
Women: Sunday
Just one women's event in the next week, the Omloop van het Hageland - Tielt - Winge, which is fully previewed here. Mega-startlist here.
Men: Friday
Two stage races kicking off...
- The Vuelta a Murcia, known as the hometown race of Alejandro Valverde most years, runs through the weekend and features an opening stage tomorrow, mountain romp on Saturday, and modest time trial Sunday. Contador vs. Menchov is a pretty decent bet for the overall. I could've sworn we'd previously had video provided through the official website, sponsored by the regional government, but I get my Spanish mini-tour media confused at times.
- Also starting Friday is Driedaagse West Vlaanderen, a nice little romp around the flatter, more wind-blown portion of the cycling heartland known as Flanders. Official site is chock full of info. Stages are a prologue, a rolling stage from Brugge to Greater Kortrijk, and a coastal (re: flat) stage. While not A-list, the race is a goldmine of young classics and sprinting talent, if you're into that sort of thing. So needless to say, I plan to watch all three stages. Full list is here, but a sampling of names: Jens Keukeleire, Iljo Keisse, Jens Debusschere, Adam Blythe, Dominic Klemme, John Degenkolb, Sam Bewley, Michael Van Staeyen, Rabo CT's Jetse Bol (whom I'll be talking with soon), probably another dozen young studs I'm missing, and what the hell, someone named Michael Vanderaerden. I thought there was a Sporza feed last year, so live video is possible.
Tuscany has done a fine job convincing fans that it's the Flanders of the South, thanks to Monte Paschi -- Strade Bianche. The course info is on the official page, and an eyeball comparison suggests it's identical to the 2010 course. Since the new version is illegibly small, here's what it looked like in 2010 (click on it to enlarge): RAISport 2 has an hour of coverage scheduled for the evening, probably not live. This race has been seriously under-broadcast, so hopes aren't great. Paris-Nice time. The Race Men: Saturday
Men: Sunday
Desperately in Search of to the Sun kicks off with a circuit around Houdain, which should end in a nice bunch sprint, and with that in mind local officials have already issued a Peter Sagan Watch, in effect through Wednesday when the race reaches the higher mountains. Almost everyone in his right mind is at Tirreno-Adriatico instead, but Taylor Phinney will be saddling up for BMC, and Tejay Van Garderen might get the go signal for the overall for HTC. Some serious contenders, besides Tejay, will include Jurgen Van Den Broeck, the Astana duo of Vino and Kreuz, and of course Luis Leon Sanchez Gil, hoping to open his Rabo account in style.
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Sagan appears to be riding Eroica, then Paris-Nice the next day.
I hope we’re not going to see him over-raced again.
What’s the deal with Eroica, anyway?
They invite very few teams, randomly leaving out recent winners, and with a prime weekend timeslot don’t show the race live?
Yep
Though apparently the US rights are owned by Universal Sports, so we might get… Something.
If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH
by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 4, 2011 12:05 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
One hour highlights in the evening on RAI
7 CET I think
by Jens on Mar 4, 2011 4:29 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
yes
7:30 CET on Rai Sport 2
http://www.rai.it/dl/portale/GuidaProgrammi.html
but I always prefer live :-)
Hesjedal doing the double, too, for Garvelo
I’d read earlier that Eroica was off his schedule this year, but they obviously reconsidered. Good interview with him about it yesterday:
"Gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal; for me, potato." - Emil Zatopek
Limited teams.
Very odd. Not a single invite to French teams.
Boy Monte Paschi
is really an instant classic.
Go Visconti.
"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-
Löfkvist winning it gave it instant cred, naturally
by Jens on Mar 4, 2011 4:31 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Any race on anything other than smooth unobstructed
pavement excites me. Even Dutch road furniture.
"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-
Phinney For Paris-Nice
The BMC Racing Team has two Americans competing in Paris-Nice, but Taylor Phinney is not one of them.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 4, 2011 12:37 AM EST reply actions
ah
thanks for the update.
If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH
by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 4, 2011 4:12 PM EST up reply actions
Any chance of snow on or near the roads?
on stage 5 most likely, I guess, with the highest point at 1201 m: http://www.letour.fr/2011/PNC/COURSE/fr/500/etape_par_etape.html
in the dark again (and no I don't use google translate)
every Spaniard got a ? is my best guess.
Ha, without knowing it you just quoted a very ridiculous
insanely popular Flemish song. Albertina knows it, after spending one week here at Crossmas :)
Elke Spanjaard heeft een snor = Every Spaniard has a moustache
I like tinkering with the boys.
- majope
I knew there was a bigger meaning with all this.
Goes right into the playlist.
West-Vlaanderen ticker
I hope this is in real Dutch
‘Couse the language (West-Vlaams) they speak over theire is some weird gibberish. They even got a wikipedia page in t’ West-Vloms
i hate when the ticker part is in a separate part of the page that cannot be extracted as a separate frame for google translate
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
As long as there's a rider name and a time, you won't have to translate most of it.
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
well, true, for time trials. it's those other pesky stages that will be bothersome.
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Vote: in the absence of video, do we need a separate live(ish) thread for today's races?
Or shall we just hang here? If a separate thread, one combined, or one each?
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
Not just in Belgium,
here things doesn’t work either, but we continue to vote for the same fcukers anyway.
One new combined
it will suck in more folks, i think
Ted King sez
that in between races you should go visit his site, because he is writing something new. About food. Shameless, this iamtedking, isn’t he? :D
Eroica:
The Giro d’Italia people on Twitter, who should know such things, say that there is no live stream for Eroica. Sadface.
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